Arlyl
Arlyl (pronounced R-lul) is a Half-Orc Half-Tiefling Druid, circle of the land. He is played by Alexei. Many of his thoughts, feelings, and reasoning are included in the session recaps. Description Appearance Arlyl is a tall, Half-Orc with a very obvious Tiefling heritage. He wears old shoulder pieces which appear much too small for him, as well as a nice sweater and jacket, both of which he stole from hunters. As well as this, he wears a ring on each of his pinkie fingers. He has two horns that are curved back slightly and large teeth that he can’t fully keep in his mouth. His skin is a pale red color, while his eyes are gold. He has one small scar on his nose and a handful on his legs and feet. Personality Due to being raised in a forest, Arlyl is naturally anti-social around most. In fact, he doesn’t even like most people or even animals- preferring plants to both. He lives mostly by his adoptive mother’s warnings about the world, taking his first impressions on people as how they are with little change. The only people he would bother to worry about for more than in the moment are those he is very, very close with. Despite having such a short life span, it takes years to get his full trust and really listen. But once someone does get close enough, he’s one of the most loyal- and admittedly clingy- friends someone could have. He believes in helping others whenever possible as long as it’s reasonable and will go the extra mile, or five, for children and the elderly. Arlyl will speak his mind on things whenever he feels like doing so, no matter how bold the statement or bad the timing is. He used to be very confident in his abilities and is still very naive. He was so confident in his abilities that he had no fear of anything. Not because he isn't capable, but because he had turned such a blind eye to his own limits and abilities that he had no fear of being unable to achieve his own goals. During the more recent sessions, however, he's found more to compare himself to, and is thus becoming less confident. He has, over sessions, become more brash and impatient, thinking more of his own goals. Arlyl still knows little of the world and is awful socially, but he is excellent at making in the moment decisions and is rather physically adept. Biography Background Early Childhood Arlyl was born to an unknown Tiefling, who did not want him. She took him outside of her hometown, Nadity, and planned on murdering the newborn. Instead, she was confronted by a Dwarven woman, who chased her off and took the young baby as her own, naming him after her brother in law and taking him under her wing as his mentor. He learned dwarvish quickly and got himself in plenty of mischiefs. She warned him as soon as he was old enough to properly understand her that the world outside was dangerous, people were dangerous and weren’t worth getting attached to, and how the forest was the only place truly safe for him. He never fully adopted or accepted this idea. While he was very young, his skin was extremely red, and due to his thin body, large and pointy teeth that could change size, and his vibrant eyes, and horns, he could easily be mistaken for a small imp or something that would grow up to be threatening. His mentor began teaching Arlyl the ways of being a druid on his fourth birthday, which is around seven in human years. He very quickly found himself talking to plants, learning druidic and often speaking in it, as well as trying to find his magical focus. He struggled to even make a flower pop open. However, he was already practicing other spells on his own, finding he was particularly good at conjuring fire and creating vines. His adopted mentor encouraged him but quickly realized that he was much stronger than she expected. Late Childhood On his 7th birthday, his mentor began to teach Arlyl how to care for and survive in the forest. He had to learn to climb mountains and trees, chase down injured animals, disable hunter traps, and assess the state of plants. He struggled with learning his own strength since when he had to chase down an animal that was hurt to heal it, for example, if it had a broken leg, he would often make it worse. He picked up healing magic quickly, often having to heal his own wounds and his mentor’s. The closer they traveled to Nadity’s forests, the more they ran into hunters and obtained more injuries. This became relevant when Arlyl was attacked when he was alone, mistaken by multiple people for being something dangerous. They were correct since he murdered two out of three of them and got the first proper taste of his powers. He was mostly unphased by his own actions. When Arlyl was 13, he was practically an adult but was truly a child at heart. He noticed His mentor’s health declining and only brought it up when she struggled to take care of herself. She told him how she was poisoned by a hunter’s arrow, and even she was struggling to find a proper cure. The two traveled until they found a small clearing, a river flowing around a tiny open island. They rested there for multiple days before his mentor passed away in her sleep. That was the first time he truly experienced sadness, and was forced to bury her on the island, taking parts of her armor and wearing them. Adulthood Arlyl spent around a year in the same location, fostering the growth of a fast-growing tree with his druidic powers. In the meanwhile, he read his mentor’s few books she kept in her bag, finding something of interest. A way to raise the dead. He had little knowledge of how to do so other than the ingredients and difficulty of the spell, and he knew he’d need more information. He left behind nothing but an old kettle and two teacups, heading down the paths in the forest. On his way, he found a traveling merchant, who gave him a small book that could help him translate dwarven to common after a lot of confusion between the two. He kept the book and studied the language as best he could before finding Nadity. Beginning of the campaign Arc I Session 1 Arlyl travels to Nadity mostly to figure out what society's like and to enjoy the festival, bumping into Ziri before entering the town. He gets promptly scammed out of what little coin he had by Koin, and keeps two cards in his deck. He doesn't exactly notice the rest of the unformed members of Hixan & CO, and heads into the town. He instantly becomes self-conscious in the town due to being tall, so he follows Koin into the tavern and tries to start up a conversation, being shut down when he was called poor. A group of goblins attacked the town, in which his only contributions to combat was casting entangle, and reviving Ziri. Arlyl is the only one in the group who voices how he will, free of payment, go save his young, half-elven friend (Corlamir LeVane). Session 2 Arlyl semi-leads the part towards the goblin's cave, making brief conversation with Ziri. During the trip he doesn't see a very obvious rope, wanted to burn down a door with Ziri, and planned on possibly blowing up the cave with alcohol and fire if things got bad. During the main fight, Arlyl spends most of it trying and failing to revive Ziri and the boy they went there to rescue. He used a healing potion on the boy and could only revive the wizard after the fighting was over. He is somewhat impressed by Hixan, Giastorm, and Koin in the fight. Upon meeting the mayor of Nadity, Arlyl was disgusted by her possible racism, and 'offered' for her to join him for a drink in the tavern. She declines. Afterward, he joins Hixan, Ziri, and Koin in a drinking contest, thus being one of the founding members of Hixan & CO. Just before the contest he talks to the barmaid about what he is, and gets told he's a half-orc and to look at the rest of his friends to take a guess on what else. Finds the drinks mediocre. He beat Roe in a strength competition on Giastorm's dime, earning his first-ever gold coin. Arlyl buys three loaves of blueberry bread for Giastorm and Hixan, and meets Lyn'dola while buying good berries from her and takes note of her. Session 3 Arlyl eagerly agrees to robbery and would also be okay with a little murder on the side. He spots Samson trying to be sneaky but invites him to the table. He is very interested in his falcon, but doesn't bring it up. Arlyl goes with the 'sneakers' of the party when they split up, transforming into a spider and going into Aros' pocket, who almost immediately trips and almost kills him. Due to the lack of surprise at his transformation, he assumes people being able to transform is normal. While robbing the mayor's house, Hixan hits a small child, who Arlyl promptly heals and writes out a messy apology in broken Common. He's annoyed by Hixan doing so, but forgets about it later. Session 4 While in combat with Earan Xylia, Arlyl's main contributions were wasting her turns by grappling and casting Entangle. He almost gets KO'd by her but stays up because of Relentless Endurance. Arlyl spins a globe with Hixan, and takes a book about astronomy from him in the library. He asks the mayor if she knows about a red-tiefling who lived in the town, but she has no idea and really doesn't care despite being charmed. After discovering Ziri fled the town, he became extremely worried, concerned if she got hurt or got lost, showing that he didn't really trust her on her own due to her frequent act of being knocked out. Session 5 Arlyl decides not to have breakfast at the Unending Tap, and instantly notices Asper in the tavern, and also see's an Old Man seeing her. When he begins blabbering about pixie's being dangerous, he leads the man outside and has a fun 'chat'. Arlyl starts telling him that he's wrong while the man spouts back that the forest is dangerous, with Arlyl taking great offense. He promptly socks him in the jaw. knocking out three teeth, before noticing Hixan and Giastorm walking and prompts that they all just go back inside calmly. Arlyl ends up healing Asper after her fight with Hixan and is quite annoyed at both of them recklessly brawling. Arlyl suggests the party goes back to the goblin cave and everyone agrees, while he tried to figure out what the summoning ritual and the crystal do together. He thinks that maybe finishing the ritual is a good idea, but the rest of the group reasonably are against his ideas. Session 6 Arlyl declines going onto the tavern's roof to look at the sunset, knowing he'd only get sad seeing it. Just before he and Hixan go to push the cart, Hixan jumps off of the building. Arlyl has to heal him and is pretty disappointed. Arlyl spent the night easily convincing a Palimino horse, nicknamed Pam, to pull the cart. He also drove the cart for the rest of the session due to him being the best with animals. Before they head out, a horse which was spooked by Giastorm was outside of the town and needed to be calmed down. He managed to calm it down, before being promptly kicked in the face. Thoroughly annoyed, he picked himself up and headed back to the group, declaring that he never really liked horses anyway. Arlyl was certain that there was something in that cave. After Asper flung herself into the ceiling and the rest of the party left, he decided to try to collapse the cave's entrance after hearing a giggle while inside. He casted Thunderwave three times in succession, spooking anyone within 300 feet including most of the party. Giastorm was confused and tried to ask him what he was doing before the third one. Hixan wanted to see him do it since he hadn't got to. Session 7 Arlyl finishes carting them to Iason and is a bit distrustful of the mayor due to his last experience with someone of that position. He opts to camp in the forest instead of the inn, tying up the horses outside of the town. He buys a very, very strong perfume from a small 'Elixer' shop for 7 gold with plans to do something nasty with it. Arlyl inquires who Pelor is, and upon learning he finds the concept dumb and doesn't fully believe in gods. Afterward, he wanted to prove himself to Hixan, headed out into the forest to meditate. When a somewhat tipsy Hixan - and Giastorm- approach, he casts Thunderwave four times, spooking and confusing the nearby townspeople. He promptly agreed to a fight with Hixan, taking everything in him to stay up after two hits, going down after the third. Session 8 Arlyl refuses to go back to sleep after the Ankhegs attack them in the night and becomes increasingly worried about himself and the nearby townsfolk. Later he tests the waters on being 'bold' in conversation, barging in on Drizzler's quiet conversation. He gets nowhere, and retreats over to Koin, making a note to not be so direct with interaction with people. He feels a bit better after seeing Hixan being worse and being told he's decent at conversation by Koin afterward. Arlyl, remembering the name 'Hixan & Co.' from the drinking competition, decided that was the best name to call their small group when Drizzler asked for them. Arlyl has somewhat accepted being the driver for the group, despite not liking horses. Session 9 Arlyl is slightly surprised upon arriving in Citire, learning that Hixan has friends. He becomes slightly anxious when seeing Hixan smile, and decides that sitting near him and his friends wouldn't be all that great for him. He doesn't mind shouting across the loud tavern to answer that his mentor was a dwarf but regrets it when a dwarf shouts back a 'Hey!' to him, causing him to shut up for the night As the night goes on he watches as the party talks, noticing how the party drinks the Citire special, becoming both concerned and annoyed on why they would drink something that could do a plethora of magic things to them. Before he goes to sleep, he decides to prepare Create and Destroy Water. In the morning when he wakes up to find that Asper and Hixan had taken out the sapphires that replaced their eyes, became extremely worried, which was expressed through fury. He followed Hixan out in a fury after he left the tavern mid-lecture. After ranting at him for over thirty minutes, Hixan punched him. Arlyl decided to try to start a fight with him for that. He was rather annoyed by Giastorm attempting to step in. He didn't have the same reaction with Asper due to just meeting her, not caring much for her and not expecting much from the small pixie. He spent his time on the night shift complaining to a tree about Hixan. Session 10 After Koin, Giastorm, and Asper fly off, Arlyl mostly doesn't know what to do. He transforms into a Giant Badger after Samson asks what he could possibly turn into to help, mostly just to show that he can do it. After getting shot at, Arlyl wants to avoid violence since fighting members of the group hasn't worked out in his favor at all, and he didn't actually start this fight and wanted no part of it. He was rather annoyed at Hixan for knocking Samson out but more thankful that he actually helped in the fight. He was somewhat peeved at Samson since he didn't expect to get almost murdered. When Asper flew down with the news of Giastorm's death, he assumed it was some kind of a sick joke the rogue had set up and got Asper to go along with. It only really hit him when he saw his body. Instead of processing that Giastorm was properly dead and wasn't going to come back, he started to look through his mentor's notes for simpler ways of revival and shared his ideas with Hixan. Arlyl forgave Hixan immediately, promising to make it up to him and to find someone who could bring Giastorm back to life, or he'd just do it himself. Despite hardly knowing anyone in the group for more than the week, the concept of someone Arlyl could've helped if he was there dying bothers him. Arc II Session 11 Arlyl does not at all trust or care for Solorian, and wants to get out of Abbel and to Empetria as soon as possible, he is quite aware of how long a body takes to rot away enough for Reincarnation. Arlyl buys a Herbalist kit with plans to make potions for the group and himself, so someone doesn't die again. He is interested and has many questions to ask of the priest(druid) of Pelor, most involving reviving. Arlyl is amazed at Giastorm's revival, and is thankful that he remained the same other than physically. Session 12 Arlyl's first thought is to save who he can, and then put out the burning dining hall. He's not that distraught over the death of the King, and learns not to try to be nice to guards after attempting to heal one to be on good terms with them. He's pissed at Asper for throwing him at a guard in the form of a spider. Arlyl is realizing how absolutely crazy his teammates are after seeing how others act is questioning his personal safety. He is heavily distraught by the mere idea that an unwilling soul wont return to their body if someone attempts to revive them and goes to the tavern without the party. Session 13 Arlyl spends a short while alone by the tavern's bar, and he takes a much deserved rest in a tavern alone, and wakes up to cast Skywrite in the sky to write "Naadar Eddys and two others killed the King." He never got a chance to tell the party about this, and is afraid that the guards are looking for the caster, but doubts they'll find him. Arlyl is extremely confused and disappointed by Hixan, Giastorm, and Koin getting arrested and wanting to beat up children. He is very much against it like Txarra. Arlyl uses Locate Object to find Giastorm's dagger, but instead get's pinged towards a tavern with a fight club in it. During the fight club, where Hixan gets himself in the worst possible fight, Arlyl begins to heal him while muttering healing word under his breath. Before Hixan almost got downed again, Arlyl pushed Hixan down and took a blow that could have knocked him out if it weren't for his half-orc resilience. He attempted to charm and convince George to back down, because "I don't want to lose another friend," but got told that he shouldn't have jumped in. Arlyl is absolutely frightened and distraught by Hixan's death, since he was (physically) the strongest person he knew. Arlyl has three regrets for the time frame which are as follows. * Attempting to charm George instead of healing Hixan. * Not intervening sooner in Hixan's fight. * Searching for Giastorm's dagger instead of anything else he could have. Session 14 Arlyl is iffy on Needles joining the party, dwelling on the fact that if he were dead, Hixan wouldn't be. Arlyl asks if he can make a later deal with the priests of Pelor, which he was overjoyed about, though he doubted he'd get to go through with it. Session 15 Arlyl became extremely stressed over the group drinking the Citire special, but was relieved that nothing bad happened as a result. He was fairly mad, but got eight frog friends as a result, which he and the rest of the group later named: Dotty, Spotty, Ziri, Charmander, Acacia, Yew. While Toadstool seems interesting, Arlyl doesn't place her in the highest light at first, but understands being awkward. He listens in on Giastorm's backstory, and while he finds it sad, he doesn't see it as an excuse for his actions. He isn't phased by him killing his parents, finding it to be a natural thing. Session 16 Arlyl instantly liked Greg, and was excited when he sat down with the party to drink. He was disgusted by Koin flirting with someone he just met(Greg), and that he went with it. He stormed out for a handful of different reasons, but mainly because he wanted time to himself. His only participation in the carnival was casting Skywrite, finding the idea quite dumb. He forgot about not being paid, because he was looking for the twins. Arlyl was furious when Toadstool revealed that she was hiding who her siblings was, and didn't see it as a big deal even after she explained it. He was amazed and somewhat ashamed that a fellow druid could be, in his mind, so un-serious. Session 17 Arlyl and Giastorm broke the news to the twins, Arlyl offering whatever specifics he could to them- which weren't many. He almost got to try cinnamon rolls, but didn't. The news that Txarra's name was in undercommon didn't mean anything, as he knew little of the undercommon world and could care less. During Combat, he cast Call Lightening for the first time, being quite amazed with his own abilities. He flipped off a harpy, and was promptly enthralled by one's voice. Even afterward, he found that he still kind of liked harpies, even after lighting them ablaze and calling lighting upon them. He wanted to ask Giastorm to have the crystal they retrieved off of them, but never got the chance. Session 18 After Giastorm, Koin, and Samson get drunk off of dwarvish alcohol, run around Regalis causing mayhem, Arlyl has a breaking point. After getting Giastorm out of jail, despite wanting to let him stay the night there, brings him back with the help of Koin. After Koin convinces a drunk Giastorm that his room is a church, he tries to get Koin to sleep as well, because he's also extremely drunk. Before getting a moment of peace, the two very obviously sneak out, and he becomes enraged. He opens the door and chases after them through the streets. After getting a spell cast on him, he really becomes enraged, casting Entangle and stops them in their tracks, beginning to attempt to reason/drag Giastorm back to the tavern. After getting hit with the end of his dagger, Arlyl gives up and lets them go off. He seethes for the rest of the night. In the morning, he begrudgingly heals them after they have extreme alcohol poisoning, and tries to convince Needles not to get them any comfort items, mostly because he wants them to suffer. He shows off his brand new bruise to Needles, and later Koin and Giastorm. He tells them to meet him out in the forest after he grabs the horses. Later, he pulls them aside in the forest before they set off, and chews their heads off. They argue for a while, with Arlyl not holding back most of his punches, and threatening to stop them from ever getting Hixan revived and ruining them. His threats aren't true, though, and they argue back with him. He asks Needles to steal the crystal from Giastorm while he sleeps, mostly out of anger and because he doubt he'd just hand it over. Samson is spared from Arlyl's fury because he was passed out drunk during the events. Session 19 Arlyl remains quiet during the trip. He is extremely shocked that Giastorm handed over the crystal and apologized for "being an ass", though he didn't say anything other than taking the Crystal. He begins to talk to the others afterward, but not much. When they arrived, Arlyl was anxious to hand off the twins, and really didn't like the woman they were handing them off to. He insists that they should be able to come help, and takes great issue because he dislikes seeing family be torn apart, but he was later informed no. He is amazed that Hixan is already back, but isn't thrilled to see him again, because he believes Giastorm would've talked about what happened. He is also not thrilled at the idea of him becoming a Paladin(Cleric) of a fighting god, and is concerned that his healing and magic and skills may not be the best. Arlyl decides to head over to the Alchemy shop while they catch up, with Asper tagging along. There he meets Peter, and instantly realizes that his potions are way too overpriced. After trying to convince him to find another profession, maybe become an artificer or an adventurer, being offered a not-so-great chair for ten gold pieces, and trying to avoid talking about his own problems, he offers Peter a spot in Hixan & Co. After selling his very much failing shop, he actually joins. Arlyl instantly regrets his decision, but accepts that it has been made, and introduces him to the group. He advises him not to tell everyone about the mind-reading potion of out fear of what they'd do with such a magical brew, and is pulled aside by Hixan. He explains that he's regretting it, and says that he's his responsibility and that he'll probably keep out of combat, watching the horses and making items and such. Arlyl later says that it's a potent poison. Arlyl gets annoyed at Giastorm for not getting paid for helping with the carnival when he didn't do much, but was actually shocked to receive payment (four gold), not expecting anything to come out of his annoyance. When he goes off to do something, and Peter follows, he decides to teach him the first cantrip that he himself had ever learned, Produce Flame. His teaching method is for him to connect with nature, and try to feel the feelings that nature probably feels. After an hour, when Peter finally makes a small flame, he's extremely proud of him- since he doubted him a little. Arlyl doesn't keep his promise to Hixan about killing him. He actually finds his joke about this funny. Relationships Hixan Arlyl had a somewhat positive opinion on Hixan on the outside. He sees him in a positive light, since he's a pretty good person and a competent fighter, as well as being a good leader. To him, his mannerisms are odd and confusing, when he's drunk and sometimes even when he's not. Arlyl feels he is sometimes a careless and an idiot. Koin Arlyl is a little miffed about Koin, due to his lack of responsibility for himself. He wouldn't trust him to save someone's life, but he would trust him to ruin another's. He's fairly annoyed because of Koin losing magic items and getting drunk with Giastorm. He is no longer amazed by his magic, and isn't surprised he's offered a form of apology. Giastorm Arlyl is beginning to trust Giastorm with more than just stabbing people and being a good friend. He recognizes Giastorm's intelligence, however Arlyl believes he is irresponsible, and doesn't make the best decisions. He no longer trusts him as a leader, due to him and Koin losing valuable magic items and getting way too drunk sometimes and acting like a fool. But he is happy that he actually apologized for his actions, and has somewhat forgiven him. Asper For the most part, Arlyl has few emotional attachments to Asper. He notices how she seems extremely out of everything and distant, except for when it comes to combat. He is impressed in her fighting abilities and wants to figure out how she's so great at fighting while being so small. He finds her being so excited about fighting and not interested in magic being a direct contrast to what he's heard about Pixie's confusing, but neat. He is concerned about her recklessness, her often resorting to violence even just to wake someone up, lack of focus, and generally does not trust her with much. However he often says that he trusts her more than anyone else- but that's a lie. Samson Due to not talking or watching Samson much, Arlyl hasn't formed many opinions on him. He trusts that Samson, despite his extreme hatred of badgers, because he seems fairly reasonable. He is concerned with his recent strange mushroom addiction. Needle Needles is in pretty high standing in Arlyl's book. He feels that Needles hasn't ever wronged him, has been generally responsible, and somewhat fun to be around. Toadstool Arlyl isn't currently a fan of Toadstool, despite her being a druid. He thinks she doesn't take things seriously, as if it were a joke, and is still spiteful about the situation in Regalis. However, he recognizes how she cares about her family, and understands how she feels about her adopted family. He doesn't really know what she does. Ziri (Former PC) Ziri and Arlyl briefly knew each other, and he kind of cared about her, mostly because she kept going down in combat. He was interested in her casting magic from knowledge and wanted to ask her about books and possibly practicing magic before she fled. He became worried due to her track record of dying and is still worried that she might be totally dead or even lost in the forest that is people and society. He misses her being in the party due to her seeming to both tolerate him a bit more than the other party members, and because he wants to believe she could've been a good head on the group's shoulders. Character information Goals Currently, Arlyl has no notable goals that the party is aware of, or that he has made obvious. Notable items Current items * One ring, being his magic focus * Dalli's Journal *Vial of Pungent Perfume *Obsidian Spider statue *One of the Crystals Former items *His other silver ring, that wasn't his magic focus Abilities Half-Orc abilities *Darkvision (60ft) *Menacing (Intimidation proficiency) *Relentless Endurance (Once per Long Rest) *Savage attacks (One extra damage dice on crits) Feats *Grappler Druid abilities *Druidic (Language) *Spellcasting (Wisdom-based) *Wildshape (Twice per short rest) *Druidic Circle: Forest **Natural Recover(One per long rest, recovers spell slots during short rest) Druid spells It is worth nothing that, as a druid can change their spells during every long rest, having every spell from their spell list, Arlyl changes his spells frequently. However, his most commonly used spells (and his four always prepared spells) are listed below. cantrips * Poison Spray * Produce Flame * Primal Savagery * Thornwhip 1st-level * Cure Wounds * Entangle * Thunderwave * Create or Destroy Water 2nd-level * Barkskin * Spider Climb * Healing Spirit * Locate Object * Animal Messenger 3rd-level * Conjure Animals * Call Lightning * Plant Growth Circle of the Land - Forest Quotations *"I wasn't very good with plants when I first started" - A vague quote to Lyn'dola in the third session. *"Everyone has a bit of magic in them." - A quote to the owner of Mixer's Elixirs. * A similar quote about doing magic was said to Peter, "Anyone can do magic." *"I don't want to lose another friend again." Arlyl to George in Session 13, after taking a hit for Hixan and almost being knocked out. *"If you die, I'm going to bring you back just so I can kill you again." Arlyl to Hixan in session 13. He has not kept his word. Trivia *Arlyl may possibly have horns in any form of wild shape he takes. (Referenced from Session 3, where Starry probably agreed without thinking when someone suggested it) * Arlyl has six frogs, which he loves equally: Dotty, Spotty, Ziri, Charmander, Acacia, Yew. * Supposedly, Ziri can make monkey noises, and another frog can speak. (Unconfirmed Jokes from Session 19) *Out of character, it has been semi-confirmed that Arlyl is straight, but likely won't date anyone because of age and not wanting to. *The form of which his Healing Spirit takes is based directly on his Mentor's favorite form to take, with it being a sign of comfort for him.